Vivian goes to the store to get some instant noodles
by TUWAN
Summary: It's all in the title, really. Vivian goes to the store to get some instant noodles. Truly a stupid story to both read and write.
1. Prologue

_2004._

 _11:53 PM._

 _A woman sits at her computer._ _On her desk are two empty bowls and several empty cans._

 _For the past two hours or so, she has been having multiple discussions across multiple forum topics. They are all videogame-related._

 _She refreshes the webpage, to see if anyone has replied to any of her posts._

 _Nothing new shows up._

 _She refreshes again._ _A new topic shows u_ _p. She finds it painfully uninteresting. It's probably going to get locked by the moderators in a few minutes, seeing as how it's off topic. She won't reply._

 _To her left is a bed. Her girlfriend sleeps peacefully, numb to the keystrokes and clicking_ _._

 _The woman at her computer decides it's time for bed. But first, she takes out a sticky note, writes something down, and places it on her mouse._

 _The note says: "_ Buy noodles _"_ _._


	2. A Quick Walk to the Store

_2004_

 _11:28 AM_

Vivian woke up, but she was still half asleep. She didn't stay up TOO late last night, but still she was tired. She checked the time. It was a reasonable time to get up. The math says she slept about 12 hours. Maybe a bit less, since nobody falls asleep immediately. But still, she was tired. These were the types of details that bothered her, where all the evidence defied the truth. But her thoughts quickly drifted away from bothersome nonsense as she started to plan the day. She looked at the computer. There was a sticky note on the mouse. Seeing this made her remember the final moments of the night, almost impressed at herself for doing something slightly clever. Since there were no noodles left, and that was pretty much what she and Goombella lived off of, it was probably for the best to get some.

Vivian floated down the stairs of her apartment building, and stepped outside. She was greeted with a warm summer breeze. Because of her odd leg structure, she could feel the ground perfectly. A warm, slightly bumpy surface. It felt like a nice contrast to the smooth, cool floor she spent all day feeling the day before. She continued to smoothly float down the road, knowing the neighborhood well enough to get to any area of importance. Her thoughts wandered. Mostly, though, she worried about the future. Where would she go? What would she do? Would she be able to stay with Goombella, or even marry her at some point? Speaking of which, what does Goombella want to do, and where will she go? Are their futures compatible? She prayed that everything would be perfectly fine, but she worried. After lots of troublesome thoughts, the grocery store came into sight. She entered the impossibly large building, containing enough food to last a century-long siege. She glided absentmindedly to the correct aisle, homing in on the prized noodles. She decided on getting two packs of six, for $5 each. As she reached for them, she heard a voice. "Vivian. Come here!" She heard. Vivian looked around, but there was nobody in sight but an absent-minded Koopa. The voice confused her. She knew she had heard it somewhere, hundreds and hundreds of times, so why couldn't she remember now? It made her frustrated, in the same way that her tiredness despite her sleep made her frustrated. Maybe something was wrong with her. She could hear doctors already saying it: "Vivian, everything is your fault and nothing can change it, sorry". She snapped out of her downward thought spiral, and noticed how stupid that thought process was. But who was that voice? Vivian thought on it. She stood at the chasm of memories, walking towards it but staying in the same place. She decided she might as well grab the noodles and leave. She reached for the six-pack box, coloured bright red with some complicated, foreign characters written in a bubbly font; but something pulled her away. Specifically, downwards, into the floor. This was not something new to her, she had done this hundreds of times both alone and taking others down too. The power was unique to the shadow sirens, a trio of sisters-

Vivian figured out who the voice was. It was her horrible, nasty, and wicked sister: Beldam. She realized that she didn't actually want to remember that Beldam even existed, likely why she couldn't recognize her own sister's voice. "Vivian! I've been looking for you. I had word you were in this area. Despite what you may think about me, I am here to help you." Beldam whispered. This did little to soothe Vivian. Sure, she said she wanted to help, but with what? Vivian was in a perfectly fine situation, she didn't need Beldam's help! It would probably only make things worse. Maybe Beldam was just trying to trick her into working for her again. But Vivian decided to play along, at least for now. Beldam led Vivian to her shadowy abode, in a crack two inches wide between two buildings. It was a nice place, and it did well despite having no space to store anything. Beldam began to explain. "There are these two beings at war with each other. Nobody knows where they came from, or even what shape they take. We know two things about them: One, as I've said before, they are at war with each other; and that they both have an infinite supply of knowledge and power. They know we are having this conversation right now. They know what we have done, what we're doing, and what we will do. One of them is Omanipo. Omanipo is, as most would call it, the 'good', or the 'light'. They believe in the value of individual lives, and having people redeem themselves and all that. The other, Maonipo, is the extreme opposite. They do not care about life, and seeks the destruction of it. These opposites are locked in a battle, but they do not fight. They are at an eternal stalemate. Imagine two kings on a chessboard. Trying to attack the other will get them killed, if both players are playing logically." Vivian stood in silence for a few moments, just trying to draw out the whole picture. But something bothered her. "Beldam, you said you were going to help me, didn't you? What do these impossible beings have to do with me, a nothing?" Vivian asked. Beldam sighed. She saw how little Vivian valued herself, and Beldam knew that it was her fault. She felt some emotion, she guessed it was pity. "Vivian, these beings have impossible power. Imagine what we could do if I got just a taste of it!" Beldam exclaimed. "If... You got a taste of it? Beldam, you won't get any powers. Omanipo knows what you would do with them." Vivian said, growing more and more suspicious of her sister. Beldam chuckled. "Well, if thats the case, I'll just go to Maonipo! They'll give me some chaos!" Vivian talked in a very stern and serious tone. "Beldam. You're horrible. But that doesn't matter. Omanipo will stop you." Beldam smirked. "Maonipo will protect me from them." Vivian slowly realized what was going to happen if Beldam gained Maonipo's power. The pieces, locked in stalemate with no other being in play, would have another piece on the board. They would begin to attack each other, and the war would escalate. It could wipe out all of the planets, and all of the universe. Vivian tried to explain this to Beldam, but she remained ignorant. Vivian was shocked and horrified and this display of both arrogance and selfishness. She would have to stop Beldam in her tracks as soon as possible, and right now was a possibility.

Vivian had a few moves she knew how to do. Apart from a very basic and primitive knowledge of physical violence, she also had the ability to hide and move in the shadows. Although not useful for dealing damage to an enemy, it helped with getting out of undesirable situations. Lastly, she had a magical fire attack. She decided that it was better to avoid setting the city on fire, so she stuck with psychical violence. However, two creatures fighting in the shadows of a crack between two buildings is radically different to fighting in the open street. The most notable difference is that movement is very limited. An entire dimension is removed from the play field, which additionally can confuse a fighter if they are not used to living in two dimensions. Beldam was older than Vivian, meaning that starting a fight in the shadows was likely going to end terribly for Vivian. But in the street, maybe she would have a better chance. Vivian used her strength and limited knowledge of two-dimensional combat to force Beldam out of the shadows, where she popped out of the abode 6 feet above the ground. Despite the Shadow Sirens always having a limb on the ground, if not utilized correctly (such as, for example, an unexpected fall preventing them from stabilizing themself) the limb can turn out useless. Beldam hit the ground with a light, but powerful impact. She bounced back up, betrayed. Vivian floated down to the cement of the sidewalk. Beldam was furious. "VIVIAN! What are you thinking!? You're throwing away power for both you and I!" A chilling aura surrounded her hands. Vivian knew what she was trying to do. But Vivian also knew she was, physically, the weakest of the three sisters. Vivian quickly went in for a punch, interrupting Beldam's attack. Beldam struggled to control her balance. The hag was quick this time, firing cold, sharp icicles at Vivian, who radiated a quick, controlled, yet searing beam of fire at Beldam, who quickly disappeared into the shadows. Vivian and Beldam both knew very well how the other fought. Vivian was well rounded, both physically and magically. Beldam had incredibly powerful magic, but would blow away in the wind if she weren't tethered to the ground. Beldam was conflicted. It may be possible to defeat Vivian right now, or deal with the problem later, once she has more power. After a moment's hesitation, she retreated. Beldam was far weaker from when Vivian saw her last. She guessed it was the age. Vivian did not pursue, but rather wondered where she could retreat to. She was right outside her abode, but maybe this isn't the only one? Vivian drifted back to Beldam's abode. She found a scripture messily taped to the wall. Vivian looked at the first sentence. It said "At the dawn of forever, Omanipo and Maonipo created the world, resented the other for it." She delicately took the scripture, and kept it. She would read this with Goombella later.

Vivian hurriedly floated towards home. Her apartment did have an elevator, it was always uncomfortable due to her leg situation, but it was possible for her to use it. Seeing as how she was in a rush, she took the Elevator, hurriedly pressed the buttons, and waited in a rushed manner. She entered her apartment. Goombella was peacefully sitting at her computer, blissfully unaware to everything that just took place. Vivian admired how calm Goombella always seemed to be. Life was stressful, but Goombella always knew how to deal with it, so why would she worry? It was a contrast to Vivian's constant worrying about every situation remotely possible. "Goombella! Somethings happened, and it involves Beldam." Vivian quickly shot out. Goombella became alert. "What is it? What's she trying to do?" She asked. Vivian began to explain what happened, until Goombella asked what she was holding. "Oh, it's a scripture about the god creatures that are at war. I haven't read all of it. Maybe we should read it now?" Goombella suggested she should finish explaining, and then read the scripture. So that's what happened. Vivian laid the scripture down on the small desk, moving the keyboard and monitor aside.

 _At the dawn of forever, Omanipo and Maonipo created the world, and resented the other for it._

 _Omanipo created life, and everything peaceful._

 _Maonipo created death, and everything horrible._

 _Omanipo created all sorts of creatures, filling each with love_.

 _Maonipo filled each creature with either fear or bloodlust._

 _This was continued until everything in the universe was created. It happened in less than a second._

 _Omanipo resented Maonipo for ruining their creation._

 _Maonipo resented Omanipo for filling the world with such flat, uninteresting beings._

 _At first, they argued._

 _But both were more wise than the other. They knew what the other had done, was doing, and was going to do._

 _Before either could speak, they both predicted exactly how the debate would go. The debate went by without a single word spoken._

 _Without communicating with the other, they had agreed that the only way to settle this was to fight each other._

 _Two beings, each able to see every possibility of the future and the potential to do anything._

 _They were at war, yet they had not moved an inch._

 _They did not take form, and yet they managed to stand precisely 5 meters away from each other._

 _If they are disturbed from their stalemate, it could mean the end of life for all._

 _Due to this, we are sealing away the area where they fight, so they may battle for eternity._

 _We will call the battleground **Kat** **uko.**_

The couple stood in silence. Goombella broke it. "So where is Katuko?" She asked, already typing the name into a search engine. All she got were rumors made by forum users wanting attention. "The search is hopeless, but Beldam has her sights fixed on Katuko." Vivian muttered. "Wait, but where is Beldam? Where was she going after the fight?" Goombella asked. Vivian didn't have an answer. The girls continued to search for answers, with Goombella on the computer, and Vivian looking over her shoulder. This continued for a considerable amount of time. Suddenly, Goombella got up from her seat. "Actually, I think Professor Frankly might know about this! I seem to remember him bringing it up a few times." She said, full of hope. Goombella grabbed the phone, quickly punching in Frankly's number.

Frankly lived in the same city as Goombella and Vivian. After the Shadow Queen had been defeated, he moved into the city to organize expeditions in a more populated area, and since Goombella was his assistant, she came with him. Vivian was unemployed. She had tried to get a job, but due to the fact that it was impossible for her to get her legal gender changed, in addition to many transphobic employers, she was shot down. Luckily, working as an assistant for the Professor payed enough for the couple to live off of instant noodles.

Somewhere not too far away, the phone rings for an old man, who is sitting on a crude chair with an icy glass of water in his hand. His house isn't made of books, but every wall, every corner, and every surface is filled with them. He was reading the news when the phone rang. He didn't find it very interesting, but reading mindlessly was soothing after the intense research and planning he had done the previous day. He was thankful for Goombella, not only was she an incredibly talented assistant, she was also able to finish quickly enough that the two of them didn't need to show up to work today. He traveled to the phone, navigating the maze of knowledge that surrounded him. He picked it up. "Who is this?" He asked, in a tone that was the perfect mix of demanding and friendly. "Hi, Professor, it's Goombella! Me and Vivian are trying to learn more about Katuko." The voice on the other end said. The voice explained how she was trying to find Katuko to stop the world from ending and all that. Katuko was a pain to research, due to how it was supposedly built thousands of years ago, and has never been documented outside of rumors and a few scrolls. The Professor began to speak. "Katuko is likely a rumor, but I'll tell you anyway. There are three scrolls documenting Katuko. One tells the story of those two gods, the other talks about Katuko, and the last has never been documented, although history says it exists. I won't bore you with too many details, if all you're doing is trying to find it." There was a brief pause as he tried to remember more. "The first scroll you already have, the second is rumored to belong to a group known as the Hinatura. The Hinatura hide themselves very well from the public eye. Only few know their name. Maybe Beldam knows more about them, I suggest trying to find her. The third is a mystery, there are no credible sources on it." He said. There was a simple "Thank you, goodbye" From the other end. He thanked Goombella and put down the phone.

Vivian and Goombella had more information, but nothing to do with it. All they could do was look for Beldam, who was most likely where she had fought Vivian. The couple agreed to go there, but Goombella decided that they should have lunch first. "You got the noodles, right?" Goombella asked. Vivian realised she had been so distracted by Beldam that she had forgotten to buy anything, and smacked herself on the head. "Whatever, we'll get some fast food on the way there." Goombella said. The couple left their apartment, and prepared to confront Beldam once more.


	3. Going out for lunch

_2004_

 _3:18 PM_

Vivian and Goombella made it to Beldam's abode. On the way, they picked up some food from a low-quality, probably unhealthy fast food place.

"Honestly, it's been so long since anything exciting has happened. There was that entire adventure with Mario, but after that things just... Got boring." Said Goombella.

"Well, it's pretty hard to top the Shadow Queen trying to destroy the world, but this whole Omanipo deal is pretty interesting at least, right?" Vivian replied.

"Yeah, but, it doesn't make any sense. If they're so powerful they can do anything to anyone that isn't them, shouldn't the adventure have already happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"They can do anything, which means controlling people's thoughts, so shouldnt Omanipo just make everyone try to kill Maonipo? But then you get a paradox, where Maonipo tries to do the exact same thing, and they have the battle in every living thing's head."

"Honestly, I don't think the story is true. But it still put Beldam up to something, and once she has a goal she almost never stops. An admirable amount of ambition, but last time she had this much hope for something, it was the Shadow Queen. Even if Omanipo isn't real, she'll still strive to create chaos."

"Hmm... Why does Beldam want chaos so badly? You knew her for most of your life, do you know why?"

"Well, Beldam wasn't always open about her motive. She wanted to resurrect the Shadow Queen because the Queen created the Shadow Sirens, maybe as some sort of debt Beldam thought that she owed. It never made sense to me. She wasn't as wicked when the Shadow Queen died... She kind fell into a depression, I guess. She was losing control over her life and she knew that."

"That's kind of sad..."

"Actually, now that I think about it, this might be the reason why she's doing this new plan. Maybe I'm looking too much into her actions, but maybe she wants to go back to the way things were, say, five years ago. The three Shadow Sirens, roaming the planet to find a way to revive that Queen. Well, I don't know. Maybe that's what she wants, I can't say for sure."

"Well, you sounded pretty confident."

"Ugh, I'm starting to second guess myself again. Honestly, I think Beldam is the reason why- no, not 'I think'. I KNOW that Beldam is the reason why my entire personality was shaped in such a self destructive way. She was always telling me to reconsider and second-guess every decision I made. Especially about, uh... My gender and all that."

"What an asshole."

"I wouldn't call her that..."

"Well, you wouldn't call anyone an asshole, ha."

"I guess. Is there a trash bin anywhere?" Vivian said, scrunching up the fast food litter. She wandered for a few moments before she found one. Vivian noticed a Koopa that she had sworn she had seen at the fast food joint. The koopa was standing against the wall, looking in her general direction. Vivian looked around carefully. It seemed nearly everyone was vaguely observing the the conversation. Vivian wandered back to Goombella. "Hey, look around. Don't react too much, either." Vivian said, in an urgent tone. Goombella looked around and realized that they were being watched. "I think it's that group, Hinatura" Goombella whispered. "We can't stay here much longer, they're realizing that we know." Vivian said. Goombella stood up, and the two of them carefully walked in the general direction of their apartment. A burly-looking Koopa approached them. "Where the hell are you goin', lady?" He said, in such a manner that the sentence would be interpreted as a threat to the recipient, but saying that it was a threat out loud would seem ridiculous. "Who are you? Why do you care?" Vivian said, deflecting the question. The Koopa narrowed his eyes. "I asked first. How about we do a little trade of information?" He offered (If you could call his threat an offer).

Vivian didn't like the idea of giving away the existence of Omanipo to everyone she met, so she lied about her business in town. "I'm just picking up some instant noodles for dinner". She answered. "Oh yeah? What flavour? What brand? What's the expiration date? Where is it imported from?" The koopa asked, along wIth several other useless questions. "How am I supposed to know? When I get to the store I'll figure it out." Vivian said, using that sentence to try and jump out of the conversation. But she didn't jump high enough, because the koopa was insisting the conversation continued. "How about we go there together and we get to know eachother along the way, how does that sound, huh? C'mon, let's go!" He urged. Vivian grabbed Goombella and turned the other way. She was confident in herself to leave this forced, tense conversation. "Hey, HEY! Where are you going?!" The koopa yelled. Everybody observing the two looked like they were ready to do more than just observe. The two girls stopped in their tracks, as seemingly everyone began to form a circle around them. The koopa stood inside this circle as well, with his fists placed firmly on his hips. "Heh heh, you two ladies don't know WHATCHA dealin' with, now you better cooperate or else- What?" The koopa, in the midst of his monologue, failed to notice that both Vivian and Goombella were out of sight. "What... Where... How.. Okay, how did- WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GO!?" He Yelled, and it seemed he somehow glared at everyone in the circle at once. "They just... Disappeared into the ground, dude." Someone in the circle said. "How is that possible? Ah well, the point is, they're SOMEWHERE, so find 'em!" The koopa demanded. The circle exchanged glances. Everyone knew that it was going to be impossible to even find a place to start looking, but they had to follow orders. "Let's GO!" The koopa demanded, once again. the circle disparged.

Vivian popped out of the shadows, clutching Goombella in her hands. They quickly retreated a few blocks, this time making sure they weren't being followed. "So much for finding Beldam." Goombella remarked. "Ah, yeah. I got so distracted trying to get away from that aggresive guy I forgot why we were here in the first place." Vivian said. However, to Goombella, something about the way Vivian said that sentence made Goombella suspicious, and then concerned. Vivian wasn't a bad liar, but Goombella noticed her voice was a little shaky. Come to think of it, her body was trembling a little, too. "Vivian..." Goombella started. "What?" Vivian said, a little earlier than how it should have been said. "I know you don't like to talk about this stuff, but, like... How much of an effect does Beldam have on you?" Asked Goombella.

Vivian thought about that question for a bit before answering. "I've been travelling with her for most of my life..." Vivian started to answer, but was hesitant to continue. "... I wasn't strong enough to stand up for myself, I guess, so she made me reconsider everything, in whatever way benefitted her the most. She also made sure that she had both me and Marilyn wrapped around her finger. I noticed that she also had Grodus under her complete control. I don't know if there's anyone she CAN'T manipulate." Goombella thought about that answer for a while. She didn't often hear about Vivian's past, as Vivian didn't like her past very much. Goombella also thought about Vivian's last sentence. Maybe Beldam was manupulating the Hinatura, or some other group to get power.

Vivian stopped Goombella's train of thought right in it's tracks, as there was something more urgent at hand. "Goombella, look! She's here!" Vivian whispered. Beldam had noticed them as well. But she didn't alert any of the gang members. Goombella started to wonder if they were affiliated after all. "Vivian, don't you know I've been looking for you? You stole that scroll, don't try to hide it!" said Beldam. Vivian was about to apologise, but she caught herself. "Don't you have anything better to do?" Vivian asked. "Idiot! This is how I plan to spend the next era of my life! And you're taking that from me!" Beldam cried. Vivian thought she was getting desperate. Was her plan really that easy to stop? If so, then they could just go home and forget this all happened. Vivian liked that plan. "Well, bye Beldam, good luck on-" Vivian was interrupted by Beldam before she could finish. "Ha! You aren't just gonna go home and forget that this all happened!" said Beldam. She grabbed the attention of the nearest shady person and said "Hey, look! It's that girl!" Beldam pointed at the two. Not much after, the chase had begun. Every corner of the city seemed to have some member of the Hinatura creeping in it, so no matter where Vivian and Goombella went, someone was waiting for them. It wasn't long until they were surrounded once again. But this time, it was Beldam who was in the circle. "Your shadow veil won't work on me, Vivian. Not only that, but I know how you fight, I can read your moves like a book, and beat you. It would save me time and you pain if you just handed over that scroll." Beldam said. Vivian knew the first sentence was true, but she wasn't so sure about the second. Vivian was pretty sure Beldam was just trying to manipulate her.

Vivian wasn't sure if she could beat Beldam, but she wasn't about to give back the scroll so easily. She would still have to fight. Goombella would also be fighting Beldam, so Vivian decided that the odds were in her favour. Beldam struck first, with no warning, sending a freezing pain through Vivian's body. However, as Vivian used fire magic, the chill had left her body by the time Vivian attacked, with a sharp line of fire. Goombella kicked Beldam with all her weight, and sent the hag a few feet backwards. Beldam regained her balance, and stood glaring at Vivian. Suddenly, she urged all the gang members to attack Vivian, demanding that someone get that scroll from her. Vivian flinched, but other than that, nobody moved.

"What?! What are you waiting for!?" Beldam shouted. The members of the gang looked disappointed, and kind of angry at Beldam. "Do you want the scroll or not? Get her!" Beldam shouted, once again. "Do it yourself." A voice from the crowd said. "Who said that?! More importantly, who do you think you are?" Beldam said, demanding an answer. A simple goomba walked forward. "Well, I said it, but we were all thinking it." He answered. Murmurs of agreement sounded throughout the circle. "We have honour here. It would be stupid and boring to send so many people after these two girls. It isn't fair, and if you think otherwise, go away, but watch your back. We don't like our time wasted by idiots who think they own the place." The goomba was finished. Beldam wasn't. "How do you expect to find all the scrolls without me, then! I've led you to one, and I can lead you to the other two." She claimed. "What? Shouldn't you only have to find one?" Burst Vivian. Beldam turned to Vivian, with eyes full of anger and fear, fear that she might be wrong. "There are three scrolls. You have one and the other two are completely unknown. Simple as that." Beldam stated. "I have one, and I know who has another." Vivian corrected. "That... Is impossible!" Beldam said, her voice rising. The crowd started to laugh. "The girl in the red hat's right, the second scroll... It belongs to us!" Said a member of the circle. "You WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me, you idiots?" Shouted Beldam. "Why would we? You didn't have the scroll when you came to us, so we wouldn't really gain anything." Explained a gang member, through his laughter. "AGH! IDIOTS!" Beldam shouted, one last time, before fleeing into the shadows.

After the crowd had settled down, the goomba who approached Beldam in the circle this time approached Vivian. "So what's with her?" He asked. "She's not the kindest lady- Wait, aren't we enemies?" Vivian asked. "It would be stupid to be enemies at this point. You have the scroll, and that person who hates you is now our enemy. We both need all three pieces of the scroll, and according to the one we have, putting them together shows the location of the last one. So now, you two and the Hinatura are friends." The goomba explained. "Really? Well, we should definetly go to where the scroll is then, right?" Vivian said. "Yeah, that's true." The goomba turned to the crowd. "Hey! Everyone! These two, the shadow girl and the goomba in the ponytail, they're with us now! Let's show them the base!" The goomba called. The rest seemed to have no objections to this development, and they began to head to the Hinatura's base.


	4. Coming Over

_2004_

 _3:53 PM_

The giant group of what used to be sinister and threatening people split up into groups of three or four. Vivian counted about ten groups before she arrived at the conclusion of _'There's a lot'_ and stopped counting. The goomba who had called out Beldam was walking with Vivian and Goombella.

"That's to make sure you don't look suspicious travelling in a huge group, right?" Vivian asked the goomba. "Yep." He replied. "But, you're also comfortable enough with talking about your super secret gang in broad daylight" Vivian continued. "... Yep. We aren't _that_ secret or hidden. It's just... We don't often do things that harm others. But when we do, we make sure it's hard to trace to this group in particular. Also, like, people stop and stare when there are 30-ish people walking around." He explained.

The group of Vivian, Goombella, and the helpful Goomba (who had introduced himself as Point) had been walking for about a minute, which they had used to introduce themselves to each other.

"So, who's the leader of your, like, group?" Goombella asked.

"Uh, there isn't really a defined leader the way you would normally think about it. There are no rankings or roles, so it's basically anarchy." Point explained, ready to explain how that works for the thousandth time.

"I guess you guys have been successful enough for a while, so it has to work. But don't problems arise when there are disagreements?" Vivian asked.

"Well, disagreements don't spiral out of control because we won't let people in if they're prone to that. If we do... It's messy, but we have to come to a conclusion at some point, and everybody involved knows that, so we focus less on getting angry and more on actually solving the problem." Point said, kind of releived that they understood a little.

"Oh, and, you guys are a special case for joining, 'cause normally you have to be super trustworthy to join, but since you have something vital to our common goal, we've made an exception." Point added.

"Hm. It's an interesting way to handle a group, to say the least." Vivian said, making the conversation fade out.

"Hey, so, you have a boyfriend?" Point asked, with his head tilting and facing Goombella. This sent Goombella and Vivian into a little bit of a panic, since they had just met Point and weren't exactly fine with explaining their relationship to a stranger that had the ability to screw them over pretty badly, and end their quest. But, they didn't really have a way of communicating this without giving it away.

"I'm taken." Goombella said. It wasn't a lie, but it obscured enough information to hide the important parts.

"Uh, can I meet him?" Point continued.

"That's a strange thing to request." Vivian said, kind of quickly so Goombella wouldn't say anything. Goombella interpreted this signal as "Do not out us"

"Who asked you?" Point asked, looking kind of annoyed.

"Huh? Who cares, she's part of the conversation, so she should get to give input." Goombella said, kind of sharply.

"Alright, fine. But I do want to know as many details about your boyfriend as possible" Point said. Vivian wondered if some external force was trying to make this conversation as stressful as possible.

"Oh come _on_." Goombella groaned.

"Listen, I think this is stupid too, but people in this group want to know if you have people close to you that could find out that you're involved with us. Usually, relationship partners and spouses are the ones who are super nosy and find out." Point explained.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that. I don't have anyone that's super nosy and Vivian is about the same. Half her family is that old lady from earlier." Goombella explained, getting releived they were leaving the topic of her relationship.

"Damn, she's your family? Must have sucked growing up." Point observed. Vivian suddenly had a series memories quickly resurface, of Marilyn slowly losing herself and giving in to Beldam's poisonous aura, of hundreds of unnecessary deadnames and misgenders from Beldam, which both Vivan and Beldam knew were on purpose but neither had ever spoken a word about it. She remembered feeling out of place as a sister, and hundreds of sleepless, tearful nights.

"Yeah, she sucked" Vivian sighed. Goombella looked worried about Vivian. Point didn't seem to notice. There was a short silence.

"Why'd you join?" Said Vivian.

"Huh?" Point said, looking a little caught off-gaurd.

"Like, you found and joined a gang, there's gotta be a reason, right?" Vivian continued.

"Well, I was trying to get away from someone." Point said.

"Sounds like an interesting story." Vivian said

"Heh, it is. Wanna hear it?" Point offered.

"Yeah, sure" Vivian accepted.

"So, uh, two years ago or something, I got into a BIG fight. When I say that, I don't mean super high tension between two people. I mean, like, FIFTY people going at it. The fight started 'cause at our university, there was rumours of treasure hidden somewhere. So there are two groups trying to find it, and use the gains for very different reasons. I was part of one of the groups. Now, this treasure has pretty great potential if you use it right, both good and bad. The other group was planning to basically make themselves super powerful and screw over everyone else. Our group just wanted them to not have it, to be honest." Point explained.

"So, who found it?" Goombella asked.

"They did. But the people in out group were really against letting them get away with screwing everyone else over... So when all 25-ish of us from each group were together, it was pretty tense. So, y'know what I did?" Point said.

"Stole it?" Goombella guessed. Point laughed.

"Yeah! I snatched it right from their hands. Pretty stupid of them to flaunt it around, but those guys had an ego so big they couldn't resist. So yeah, taking it really pissed them off, and a HUGE fight broke out. I think, like, 20 people ended up in the hospital. I was mostly fine, cause I was trying to secure the scroll. But once I snuck off to hide it, I came back to help my guys." Point continued.

"So after that, I went back, got the treasure and booked it, cause those guys knew where I lived and all that. One of 'em took a picture of me, so my face was in the paper under 'University ruffian steals treasure'. So people were after me, but that's when the Hinatura came to me. They said they would protect me if I joined, so I did." Point said, with a clear satisfaction of finishing written on his face.

"Wait, what was the treasure anyways?" Vivian asked.

"Oh, yeah! It was the scroll. Imagine my surprise when it turns out I had to find two more to actually use it." Point explained.

"It- Wait, are you serious?" Goombella exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know. The Hinatura really wanted that scroll, so when they saw I had stolen it, they jumped right to it." Point said.

"Anyway, we're about here. We just gotta get through some stuff." Point said. Vivian and Goombella followed Point through an alley, down a ladder, and into a trapdoor. They walked down some stairs that were very poorly lit, until they reached a door. Point unlocked it with a combination, and showed the girls inside.

The hideout looked like a mix between a warehouse and an office. Vivian and Gooombella entered the main room, which was tall and wide, with many extension cords and outlets sprawling all over the walls and floor. The center of the room was full of tables with computer setups, with nametags on most of them. To the side were bookshelves, shipping containers, and doors. At the end of a long ramp was a very large garage door. On the opposite side of the entrance, an elevated platform stood, with a staircase to the platform on the side.

"Interesting place." Vivian observed, still looking around at the room.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty cool. Anyway, let's go to where we have the other scroll." Point said.

The three walked towards one of the doors. Point asked a tough-looking dry bones to open a safe. After Point talked with the dry bones for a little, the dry bones walked towards Vivian and Goombella.

"Show me the other scroll and I will let you see ours." He explained. Goombella took out the scroll and handed it to him.

"Ok. You follow me. Not you, purple girl." the dry bones said.

"Don't worry about it, he just cares a lot about security." Point reassured Vivian.

Goombella and the dry bones entered another room. It had an unwelcoming aura, but other than that it seemed like a normal office archive room. They walked to the edge of the room and got to a safe labeled "Katuko scroll" written in pen, on a peice of scotch tape attached to the front of the safe. The dry bones opened it, and handed the scroll to Goombella.

"Do you mind if I write the contents on the scroll in my notebook?" Goombella asked.

"Mmm... Why?" Asked the dry bones.

"Well, I want to show the purple girl from before what's on it, and I'm an archaeologist and want this archived, because it's an old thing that we don't know about." Goombella explained.

"Mmm... Researching old things sounds like what archaeologists do... You can archive it." The dry bones said. Goombella startes to write in her notebook about the scroll, and it's contents.

"Hey, can I see the scroll that you have?" The dry bones asked.

"Sure, be gentle with it." Goombella said, handing over the scroll.

"Oh, and are you done copying?" He asked.

"Yep, you can have it back." Goombella said. The dry bones placed both scrolls face down on the table, fully unraveled. He moved the scrolls closer and closer together, until they were touching. Suddenly, a map began to appear across both scrolls backsides.

"That's..." Goombella started, but stopped because copying the map down was more important than being amazed to her.

After a few minutes, Goombella picked her scroll back up, and the map disappeared. She put away her scroll and went outside with her notebook to show Vivian. Vivian began to read the contents of the second scroll.

 _Katuko is a most sacred battleground, only a select few can enter without resentment from one of the great beings._

 _To enter, one must be balanced between the forces of good and evil, or else the great beings will deem you too much on their enemies side, and forbid entry._

 _Katuko will be located in the area shown by placing this scroll and the first together, as it is an area not fit for all to enter._

 _To get into the area in which the sacred battleground is located, one must have a heart that has experienced a most pure form of love, else they will not appreciate the battleground._

 _Inside Katuko, the innermost depth of the battleground contains the two great being in their eternal stalemate._

 _If they are disturbed, existence may become irreversibally unbalanced._

Vivian handed the notebook back to Goombella.

"So where is that map of? It doesn't look familiar to me." Vivian asked.

"Well, this map is probably geographically outdated. If we can figure out roughly how old these scrolls are we could probably find out where this map is supposed to be.

"Uh, how do we find that out?" Vivian wondered.

"Analysing old stuff is my job, Vivian. I'll figure it out." Goombella reassured.

Goombella and members of the Hinatura spent the next few hours trying to figure out where the map was supposed to be. Vivian was impressed how well they worked together, despite having just met Goombella. They worked efficiently and carefully, and eventually there was only one possibility for where Katuko was located.

"Heh, I'm surprised you guys have such a diverse range of professions. The moment I heard the word "gang" I just assumed you guys were just a bunch of brawny guys. Seems like that's not the case, though." Goombella said, with a heavy taste of satisfaction in her voice.

Trying to find out Katukos location, Goombella had received help from linguists, historians, and many people from geographical studies. Goombella decided to take the enormous stack of empty cup noodles to the trash. She asked Vivian to come along with her.

"So, I talked with lots of people in the group. Most of them seem to be very laid back. I couldn't find a way to get their opinions on, y'know, trans and lesbian stuff without forcing it. But I doubt they would hurt us if they found out." Vivian explained.

"Hmm... The best bet is still to keep it a secret, but... That gets exhausting quickly." Goombella said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Especially when you have to hide it from people like Beldam." Vivian said.

"Ah, yeah.. Hey, why'd you forgive her anyways?" Goombella asked.

"H-Huh?" Vivian said.

"Like, sorry if this seems intrusive, but why did you forgive Beldam? After we defeated the Shadow Queen? We all knew she had barely changed, that we were just hoping she had given up on being evil. But you forgave her and rejoined her for a few months. Then you moved in with me, I know how things go from there." Goombella elaborated.

Vivian sighed. "Yeah, I knew she hadn't changed. But, at the time... I wanted to give her another chance, to see if she had finally learned to accept me. She hadn't really. She had learned to tolerate me, but nothing more. She knew she couldn't hurt me, that much was different. She had to take a different approach to manipulating me, and she did. I had spent those few months with her walking on social tightropes to avoid her control, and I was tired. I wanted to get away, so, I came to your place."

"Hm. I guess those types of people rely on forgiveness to manipulate people, huh." Goombella said.

"Yes, but... Some people deserve forgiveness, don't they?" Vivian said.

"Yep. Not all of them though." Goombella said, chucking the big stack of empty cup noodles into a trash bin. Goombella noticed Point was near, so she talked with him.

"So, me and Vivian will probably go back soon, before it gets too dark." Goombella said.

"Ah, c'mon, you're basically a member of this gang, why not stay here? You two could stay up and have drinks and get closer with members. You might as well, right?" Point proposed.

"Yes, but if we stayed we would still have to go home when it's dark." Vivian said.

"Oh, no, there are bedrooms here. You two don't mind sharing a room with each other, right? 'Cause there's only one vacant right now." Point said.

"No, we're very okay with it." Vivian said, with a hint of secretive smugness in her voice.

"Alright, cool. So that means you're staying, right?" Point asked. Vivian and Goombella nodded at each other.

"Yeah, we'll stay." Goombella confirmed.

After about an hour, a corner of the giant, main room went from a nearly unoccupied set of four couches around a table to a very lively and messy spot. Vivian, Goombella, Point, and many other members of the Hinatura were gathered around the table in the center, and settled deep into the couches. Everyone had a considerably large amount of alcohol, except Vivian. She instead had lots of soft drinks and a little water. The cups and cans were all over the table, with each of them being anywhere from empty to halfway empty.

"How'd you two meet? The, uhh, purple one and the girl goomba." Point asked. His sentences were straying further and further from comprehension the longer the night went on.

"Because of Mario! Like, the red guy. Mario was going on an adventure and we both joined him." Goombella answered, with a sentence that was pretty close to normal.

"What!? You two met Mario? He's like, famous and crap!" A koopa exclaimed, spilling his drink while gesturing.

"Wait, when was this?" Asked a shy guy, whose mask was barely hanging on to his face.

"This was when the shadow queen tried to destroy the world. Remember that?" Goombella said.

"Ohhh, yeah. Hey, Vivian, you look like a small version of the shadow queen. Are you related or something?" The koopa asked.

"Didn't the shadow queen create two daughters and a son?" A boo asked, partially covering up her face.

"Uh... No, she had three daughters." Vivian said, getting a little worried.

"Huhh? I used to live in the creepy steeple, though. There was, like... I can barely remember, but it was a really mean lady, a really dumb lady, and a really timid boy." The boo said, questioning her memory.

"No, no. It was three girls!" Goombella said, noticeably distressed.

"Hmmm... OH! I remember now. There was a doctor in the town near the creepy steeple, and one time I followed the boy there. He asked the doctor to give him some pills or something that would make him more like a girl. The doctor gave it to him, but the doctor looked really concerned about the kid..." The boo said to a terrified Vivian. The boo was correct, Vivian got hormones from a Twilight Town doctor when she was younger. All she could do was hope nobody made the connection between the trans girl in the Boo's memory to the girl sitting in front of them.

"They all wore different hats... The mean one had blue stripes... The dumb one had yellow stripes... The last one was like... Purple? No..." The boo thought aloud.

"Can we talk about something else?" Vivian said, with sweat running down her back.

"It was you, wasn't it? Yeah, it totally was! Purple creature, pink hair... The hat had red stripes, I remember now." The boo said, in a tone as relaxed and indifferent to Vivians terror as an unoccupied pool on a calm day.

"It- I... Might... Have, uh been?" Vivian said, with a voice as shaky as a ship in a storm. There was a short silence that took forever to break.

"Ha ha! You were the timid one! Honestly, your transformation is impressive as hell. Honestly, you're the same as any girl at this point." The boo said, taking another sip of her drink. Everyone else seemed to be impressed, rather than angry. Goombella had been ready to fight to defend Vivian for the duration of the conversation, but it seemed that wasn't necessary.

"So she's a girl, right?" The koopa said. Vivian prayed this didn't take the only bad turn possible.

"Yes, right." Vivian said.

"Oh. Okay... Wait, don't we have someone in the Hinatura who used to be a girl and then turned into a boy?" The koopa asked.

"Yeah, he was kicked out of his own home for it, too! I don't know what would've happened if we didn't take him in. Don't people try to hurt you for swappin' genders and stuff?" Point asked.

"Yes, that's why I try to avoid it at all costs... But here I got kinda unlucky since you remembered me before I transitioned. At least nobody is trying to hurt me here, though. " Vivian said.

"Heh, here you don't have to worry. We've taken in so many people abandoned by their families 'cause of who they liked or what they wanted to be... Kinda messed up how people can turn so nasty once they find out you're just a little different." Point said, downing the rest of his drink.

"Wait, did your friend Goombella know about that?" The boo asked.

"Well, um, yes. She-" Said Vivian before she was interrupted by Goombella herself.

"Yeah! Of course I knew! 'Cause I'm her girlfriend!" Goombella said cheerily. The table seemed pleased with this turn of events. Point laughed a little.

"Ohhh, so THAT'S why you got so nervous when I asked you about your boyfriend!" Point said. Laughter could be heard from around the table, from all except a few. Those who weren't laughing were still smiling heartily, and their faces red from alcohol.

"Oh my god, Point, you asked them about their relationship?" The boo said.

"Screw off, you were pushing for that to be the standard!" Point said, his voice a mix of annoyed and playful.

Vivian and Goombella sat closer to eachother, knowing that they were safe to be themselves in this small pocket of the world. The lively chatter and high spirits remained until an unreasonable hour of the night. The glasses slowly went from half full to completely empty. Once it was outrageously late and it was decided that it was time to sleep, Vivian tried her best to make sure everyone got back to their room safely, trying to herd the incredibly drunk group.

Vivian and Goombella got back to their room, with Goombella almost completely passed out.

"Vivian..." Goombella said, having trouble with every syllable.

"Yes?" Vivian said, ready to be incredibly patient for her hardly functioning Girlfriend.

"I'm so glad that, uh... They respect you... Being transgender. You're safe in here... I love you, Vivian! I'm so happy we don't have to worry!" Goombella said, hugging Vivian tight. Her speech was kind of a mess, but Vivian understood completely.

"I'm happy too, Goombella. Let's get some sleep before morning, okay?" Vivian said, smiling.

Goombella fell asleep the second she touched the matress, while Vivian had a little bit of time to get into a comfortable cuddle with Goombella before Vivian succumbed to a peaceful sleep. Vivian and Goombella didn't often get to sleep without any worries, but a lucky turn of events allowed them to rest with nothing wheighing them down.

The last train of thought Vivian had before she fell asleep went something like this:

 _"Goombellas hair is so soft... I'm glad I don't have to worry about hiding this. I don't know what tomorrow will hold. Maybe things will go terribly. But, maybe means there's a chance it won't. I really should stop worrying about things I have no control over. People say to appreciate the moment, right? I guess I'll appreciate my amazing, drunk, and beautiful girlfriend in my arms. Gosh, she really is amazing..."_


End file.
